


Identity Reveal

by DancingInTheSliverGlow



Series: Febuwhump 2021 [21]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016) Whump, Burns, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode Tag, Episode: s05e05 Jack + Kinematics + Safe Cracker + MgKNO3 + GTO, Everybody Lives, Explosions, FebuWhump2021, Febuwhump, Friendship, Gen, Happy Ending, Hurt Angus Macgyver (Macgyver 2016), Hurt/Comfort, I Blame Tumblr, Inspired By Tumblr, One Shot, Poor Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016), Short One Shot, Team as Family, Tumblr, Whump, implied fluff to come, jack is alive, this is canon and you know it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 13:54:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29610420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DancingInTheSliverGlow/pseuds/DancingInTheSliverGlow
Summary: Jack is dead.It doesn’t make any sense. Jack is the best, he’s one of the most talented agents that Mac has ever known. How could he be dead?Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Riley crumble and quickly leave.He waits a few moments, and leaves after her. He finds her at Chucky Cheese, playing skeeball. The sight is familiar and nolgastic and wrong all at the same time.It should’ve been her, Jack and Mac playing together.Nonetheless, he buys a few tickets and joins Riley for a few games and a greasy pizza. He listens to her regal the tale of how she met him: picking flowers in her mother’s yard before their first date. Blackmailing him into bringing her here, an action that would soon become tradition for both of them.Matty tells him - no, orders him to take the week off the next day. Mac obeys. He’s not sure what he would do at the Phoenix - his head is a mess.A few days later, absent-mindedly, he goes through the mail until “Ozzie Uric” brings him out of his thoughts. He checks the stamp.It’s dated two days after the funeral.Mac practically throws himself out the door and books it to the phoenix.Is Jack still alive?(Yes he is).
Relationships: Jack Dalton & Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016), Jack Dalton (MacGyver TV 2016) & Riley Davis, Riley Davis & Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016)
Series: Febuwhump 2021 [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2137995
Comments: 15
Kudos: 37
Collections: febuwhump 2021





	Identity Reveal

Jack is dead.

It doesn’t make any sense. Jack is the _best_ , he’s one of the most talented agents that Mac has ever known. How could he be dead? 

The man who worked with Mac gives him Jack’s dog tags. Later, he tells Mac that it was an impossible situation, there was nothing he could have done. 

That’s a lie.

There is something Mac could’ve done. Should’ve done. He should’ve picked up the damn phone when Jack called. As soon as he heard Jack’s message on the answering machine, he should’ve called back again and again and again until Jack picked up. 

But he didn’t, and now Jack is dead.

Matty is sitting with Desi and Russ, no doubt telling them all about Jack’s shenanigans and the fun one-liners he was known for. Mac thinks, _knows_ that he should go over there and share some stories of his own.

Stories that only he and Jack know. 

Mac doesn’t go. He’s selfish. These memories - they’re the last pieces of Jack that he has left. He doesn’t want to share them. He wants to hoard them and relive them over and over and over until he forgets that Jack is gone and dead.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Riley crumble and quickly leave.

He waits a few moments, and leaves after her. He finds her at Chucky Cheese, playing skeeball. The sight is familiar and nolgastic and _wrong_ all at the same time. 

It should’ve been her, Jack and Mac playing together.

Nonetheless, he buys a few tickets and joins Riley for a few games and a greasy pizza. He listens to her regal the tale of how she met him: picking flowers in her mother’s yard before their first date. Blackmailing him into bringing her here, an action that would soon become tradition for both of them. 

Mac listens and laughs when Riley mimic’s Jack’s voice with frightening accuracy. 

He’s not ready to share all of his stories of him and Jack. He thinks maybe Riley recognizes that, because she doesn’t push. He’s grateful. She smiles back at him. 

Matty tells him - no, orders him to take the week off the next day. Mac obeys. He’s not sure what he would do at the Phoenix - his head is a mess.

… 

A few days later, absent-mindedly, he goes through the mail until “Ozzie Uric” brings him out of his thoughts. He checks the stamp. 

It’s dated two days after the funeral.

Mac practically throws himself out the door and books it to the phoenix.

It’s just the landlord. It’s not Jack.

Mac doesn’t scream. 

He wants to. He really wants to scream at the injustice of it all, but he doesn’t. Instead, he focuses his mind on the case. Something went wrong on the mission, and Jack is trying to talk to him through the grave. He’s asking Mac to investigate.

Mac investigates. 

… 

The landlord isn’t there. His assistant tells them that he’s sick and recovering in his room. He directs them up to an apartment that was rented under one of Jack’s aliases. 

Mac isn’t sure what he expected when he enters the apartment, but it isn’t _this._ Completely unpersonalized, just the bare necessities. It’s just a safe house.

… 

Jack sends Mac on a hunt for clues as his heart fractures into pieces. He tells himself to hold it together for Jack. He tells himself to hold it together, until the case is complete. Then he can break down.

… 

Kovac isn’t real. The image is fake. Kovac is a woman, one of Jack’s teammates.

Mac wants to scream. 

He should’ve been there. He should’ve had Jack’s back.

Riley gets the woman to admit that she’s Kovac on tape, and they arrest her. The evidence is solid, and Mac knows that she’s going away for life. Riley promises to ensure it’ll happen.

He should feel better, but he doesn’t.

Mac just feels empty inside.

… 

The case is done, and the team starts wrapping up and heading back to the plane. 

Mac hangs back.

He clears his throat, and the others turn to look back at him. 

“I think I’m going to stay here a while longer.” He tells them. They give him sad, pitying expressions and he looks away. He doesn’t want their pity. “I want to go back and look at the safehouse.” 

Reluctantly Matty nods permission. “Call me when you’re ready to return. I’ll have a flight arranged for you.”

… 

Mac goes back to the apartment. He stands in the doorway and stares at the drying pool of Bozer’s blood, at the eye of horus taped inside the closet, at the open case in the wall.

It’s not fair. Jack is so much to him. Jack is his partner, his other half. 

Jack is gone, and all Mac gets are these crumbs. 

Mac thinks he should be crying. He should be screaming, letting all the anger out and hitting things but he just feels numb and empty inside. Mac knows that there’s 5 stages to grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. He thinks he skipped the first 3. 

Mac isn’t sure how long he stands in the doorway staring at the room. He’s brought out of his thoughts when the assistant taps him on the shoulder.

“Sir?’

Mac shakes his head, and turns. “Sorry, I was just - Can I help you?”

“My landlord wants to talk to you.” The assistant says. ‘Will you come?”

Mac nods, and follows the assistant. He leads back to a room in the back of the first floor, nearly isolated from the rest of the building.

Mac wonders if it’s about to get jumped.

Then, the assistant knocks on the door in a specific pattern. Two hard knocks, three softer ones followed by another 2 harder knocks. The pattern is eerily familiar and Mac struggles to remember. Where had he heard that combination before?

The assistant pulls out a key, opens the door, steps inside and ushers Mac in.

Mac walks in and freezes. Because there, on the bed - covered in wounds and bandages and somehow, miraculously still alive is - 

Jack Dalton.

Jack manages a smile, and says, “Hey, Mac.”

The End. 

**Author's Note:**

> I have another Jack-Is-Alive fanfics coming up, so stay tuned for that (or maybe just subscribe). It should be posted on the 27th of February. 
> 
> I hope everyone's staying safe and healthy during these troubling times.  
> Come say hi on [my tumblr :)](https://art-in-the-sunlight.tumblr.com)  
> If you enjoyed, consider leaving a kudos and comment?  
>   
> Emoji Key for those who don't know what to say!  
> ❤ = you wish you could kudos again  
> 👍 = you enjoyed reading it  
> 💕 = S5E05 was bullshit. We didn't see a body, so Jack is still alive! There's a reason why the writers kept bringing Jack up in every episode since 5x05.  
> 


End file.
